An Instance of Fail | World of Matticus

This is interesting to me – not only because it reminds me that the mage-spell “amplify magic” might make Heal Dwagon slightly easier (I am not one who is responsible, but perhaps I should remember to suggest that DPS team is asked for this) but because it goes back to the whole issue of roles in a raid.

DPS are there to hit things/splode things/burn them/melt them/claw and rip them to shreds. Heals are there to keep you alive, tanks are there to make sure the big nasty is not pointing in your direction.

And everybody agrees – except – and this is the problem – there is a little overlap between the functions in terms of how, by playing less than optimally, they can make the job harder.

The DPS can gain aggro prematurely, or, in an aggro fight, fail to appreciate that tank-swapping might be a delicate balance of aggro management (taunts not applicable).

The healers can, occasionally, DPS (I remember smiting on the odd occasion, when we were struggling with heroic beasts – it was not much, in the scheme of things, but it was a first kill, and we really wanted it) but their primary job is to use every GCD for a healing spell.

Sometimes, there are times when it is nice for the mages to de-curse – because there is no healing class capable of it, in the raid. Or the damage is coming in so quick and fast, that every GCD is spent healing, and it is more likely that you will die from being underhealed to being cursed.

Last night, a newer member of the raid (who perhaps would do better to keep it a bit more buttoned) complained about the time spent in dispelling debuffs on the trash before council. Of course, the complainant is DPS. And from a class that cannot provide raid utility by dispelling at all. And who thinks that “ten whole seconds” – (probably 3 GCDs if that) spent as a spider is worthy of trashing the healers on vent. Carry on like that, my lad, and you’ll find yourself a blob/spider for a lot longer… Makes me wonder if it is really a good idea to make dispelling purely a healer area – because the overlap teaches some players to have a little more consideration – by helping out when times are tough, they can help bring the raid to success. Rather than DPS seeming to be self-centred and, possibly by extension, selfish.

There is this huge divide, it sometimes seems, between DPS and heals – the same DPS raider complained that he was shouted down by healing officers for crowding them on BQL last week after the fear effect and causing death through proximity.

Again, I’m biased, I am a healer. And I try to have fear ward up at the appropriate times, so that I can blow Div Hymn on the first aerial phase – I don’t move at all – other people end up moving into my space. I keep casting non-stop – and on the heroic attempts, this is still necessary. Moving is possible (except when channelling one of my major CD-spells) but not such a loss to DPS as to the heals. And my position in the room is planned in the heal strategy, so that we all have suitable coverage on the raid. There is a reason behind not wanting to move too much – we organised it so that everybody was within range.

But this conflicts with the ability to deal damage, which is the function of a DPS toon – isn’t it? I envy DPS for being so free from any feeling of responsibility sometimes – it must be so refreshing. But not for long. I choose my path as healer precisely because of the this-is-a-team atmosphere. And the together-we-do-this feeling.